This invention is directed to an electronic timepiece including a battery monitoring arrangement, and in particular to an electronic timepiece wherein a second hand is rotated in an uncharacteristic manner to indicate a drop in the effective voltage of the battery below a reference voltage level.
Heretofore, accurately predicting with any degree of certainty the life of a battery, or accurately monitoring a drop in the effective voltage of a battery when such battery was being used in an electronic wristwatch has not been satisfactorily achieved. Although the life of a battery utilized in an electronic timepiece extends from one to two years, the suggested replacement dates are usually ignored or forgotten due to the lengthy duration between such needed replacements of the battery therein. Although different manners of effecting monitoring of the effective voltage of the battery in a timepiece, such as voltage meters or display cells have been suggested, such methods of monitoring the battery have been less than completely satisfactory. For example, movable coil type meters and/or light emitting diodes have been proposed, but such arrangements are not practical in view of the limited space in minimum power requirements of small sized electronic timepieces such as wristwatches. Accordingly, an arrangement for monitoring a battery wherein limited power is required, and wherein additional display elements are not needed is desired.